X73600: Man of a Thousand Faces
by SCEWT
Summary: While on a case in Florida, Mulder calls an old academy friend to take on a particularly gruesome set of murders with no MO. Agent Kate Lewis takes on the toughest case, partner and suspects of her career. A good mix of suspense, horror, humor and romance
1. PROLOUGE

An attractive Asian woman kneels in the warm winter sun and tends to her neat, cottage style garden. As she ploughs gently at her marigolds and listens to the music pumping through her headphones a dark blue delivery van pulls up on the street running parallel to the front of the house. A tall, well set afro-American man steps out of the still running vehicle, and proceeds to open up the rear doors and pull out a small mountain of brown paper bags full of groceries. He walks across the neat, green lawn and up the path towards the house's front door, not noticing the young woman.

As he haphazardly tried to press the doorbell while still supporting the load he upends one of the bags and it tumbles to the ground. Oranges and kiwifruit roll off down the path and onto the lawn, one bumping gently into the otherwise oblivious lady. She turns to see what has collided with her leg and then notices the delivery man. Quickly she rips the earphones out of her ears and rushes over to the small porch to help the man pick up the spilled fruit and vegetables.

"Oh my – I'm so sorry, I didn't hear the van pull up!" she explained as they both pile the fruit back into the paper bag. She wiped a stray bead of sweat from her forehead.

"That is quite alright –" the black delivery man glanced down at a piece of paper he had just removed from his pocket, "That is quite alright Mrs Lambert". He smiled, his perfect white teeth gleaming as his masculine, heavily set jaw tilted slightly to the side.

The woman stared down at her hands, feeling herself go slightly pink, "it's Melody -miss Melody". The man continued to smile.

"Well it's nice to meet you _miss _Melody Lambert! I'm Nathan, your new 'Fresh Foods' delivery man", he winked cheekily, "but you can call me Nate."

Melody Lambert laughed as the two of them rose back to their feet simultaneously.

"Here let me help you with those" offered Nate the delivery guy warmly, removing two of the bags from the woman and placed one under each arm. She led him down a hallway and into the kitchen, where she signalled for him to put the bags on the table.

They both stood there, in complete silence smiling for a couple of seconds, Melody snapped out of her trace and laughed, "Where are my manners? Would you –", but she was cut short by a loud crash in the front of the house. They both rushed down the hallway, Nate tenderly stepping in front of Melody, placing her out of harms way. They turned a tight corner and arrived at the source of the noise – a cat had jumped through an open window and was about to pounce on a small yellow canary that had been knocked out of its cage by the impact of the cat landing on top of it.

Melody jumped towards the cat, yelling at the tabby creature and flailing her arms about.

"GO ON – GET OUT YOU ROTTEN ANIMAL! SHOO!" she shrieked, slamming the window shut behind it. Meanwhile Nate had stood the large bird cage back up and was trying to catch the canary. They both laughed as they stupidly stumbled around the lounge room, attempting to catch the bird, eventually Nate pulled his best Michael Jordan move and pounced on the bird, his broad hands closing around it and ripping it from the air mid-flight.

"Whoa!" said Melody, half laughing, half puffing. "Those are some good moves!" she smiled as they walked back along the corridor to the kitchen.

"Thankyou miss Melody!" said Nate in a mock suave voice, "you know – I was the captain of the basketball team."

"Impressive, impressive" laughed Melody as she smiled at the charming delivery man. "Can I get you anything? Water, tea, coffee?" She held up one of the oranges, "orange juice?". Nate returned the warm smile, "Water would be just fine thanks." Melody brushed a strand of her glossy black hair out of her eyes as she momentary turned away to pour Nate a glass of water. Little more than 15 seconds had passed when she turned back around to face Nate.

Much to her surprise he was no longer the warm, smiling man he had been when she turned her back on him. Without an ounce of expression, his face looked cold and hard – there was an evil glint in his eye. The air was steadily growing colder and colder.

"Nate, what's wrong?" she laughed uncomfortably, he did not speak. Her free hand closed around the kitchen knife resting beside the sink. Still he didn't say anything; he just stood there completely motionless. It seemed like an eternity of him just standing there to Melody, all the while she was seizing up inside, desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation. She was about to open her mouth to speak when he suddenly rushed forwards towards her. She screamed and the glass of water fell to the floor, smashing into a thousand and one pieces.


	2. CH1: You win 'em You lose 'em

**Hey this is a little story I wrote about some cool lady (no she has nothing to do with me) aaaand yeah I like the story line it just kinda unfolds. Wait till you get to the murder scene!!! Ideas ideas ideas!!! Please review chaps!**

Kate was woken by a very high pitched, very loud and very annoying sound. It was the goddam phone; she rolled over onto her side and pulled the blanket over her head – if it was really that important they could leave a message. The noise stopped. Peace at last. But then, all of a sudden, a muscular arm came out of no where and fixed around her waist. At first she was startled, but then remembered that Alex was staying over that night.

She pulled her head out from under the blanket and turned to face him in the darkness, she couldn't see him, but she knew he was there – she could feel his warmth and smell his soft, clean scent. She pushed her head up against his muscle bound chest and kissed it softly, breathing in his smell and savouring the warmth of his touch on the cold of the winter night.

He ran his hands up her naked back and up to her neck, he caresses her cheek as he began to softly train down her body again with his lips. A shiver ran across her spine – she felt bad and dirty, to know that he shouldn't be here, that they shouldn't be doing this. The thought of what people would say if they found out. Yes, she was wicked – and it felt _so_ good, it felt wonderful to be _so_ bad. He paused as he slid under the sheets and stopped kissing just above her navel, his warm breath fanning out on her pert skin – she was ecstatic. The silence was broken only by the sound of the two lovers breathing heavily, reading for embrace.

Suddenly the glorious tension in the air was shattered by the sharp, monotonous trill of the telephone once more. It rang blatantly; almost deliberately from the table resting beside her bed. She wanted it to stop, she wanted Krychek to keep going, she groaned impatiently, waiting for the phone to stop ringing, but it didn't – it just kept on and on. Alex appeared from below the sheets with a grimace on his face, he signalled for her to answer the phone. As she turned to the bedside table, her hand grasping for the phone, he lay down beside her and began to caress her tight stomach gently. She kissed him once more, tenderly, reeling as she pulled away from his grasp.

Finally she found it and her hand closed around the small telephone, she pressed the answer button and brought it up to her ear. "What?" she demanded impatiently, a little more anger escaping in her voice than she had intended.

"Kate?" a deep male voice responded on the other end, "Kate Lewis?"

"Yeah that's me – speaking…?" She said half impatiently, half asleep. She tried to find the light switch, but failed, so she turned her clock radio to face her – it was 3:48 AM.

"Kate, It's me – Mulder", now she thought about it a little, it did sound like Mulder. She was a little annoyed with herself for not recognising the sound of his voice. Special Agents Kate Lewis and Fox Mulder had spent most of their years in the F.B.I. Academy dating, until he had become involved with that foul Diana Fowely woman.

Even hearing Fowely's name after all these years made Lewis feel sick, she had always disliked the woman, but when she had stolen Mulder away from her - dislike had turned to distain, and distain into a certain form of hatred – alright down right hatred. She hadn't really even talked to the Mulder for five years or so, they had lost touch after the break up. But despite everything Kate Lewis still held a certain flame in her heart for Mulder, she would never admit it, but she still had something of a crush on the man.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, "Mul -" she began but then realised that she was in bed with Alex Krychek. The two men had worked together for a few weeks and experience something of a 'falling out', Alex wouldn't tell her exactly what happened, but she had gathered that each of them harboured a severe dislike for the other. "Hey, um – it's ten to five in the morning" she continued.

Mulder sounded slightly bothered, "Yeah, I'm sorry about this. It's just I need some help with something…" he continued, unaware that Kate wasn't listening.

In an attempt to win back her attention, Krychek had sat up behind her and begun to massage her back. As much as she wanted to stay in the nice, warm, comfortable bed, with the strong, handsome, sexy man, she also wanted to talk to Mulder – she nudged Alex off with her shoulder and turned to face him. "Krychek, I gotta take this call – go back to sleep" she whispered, hoping that Mulder couldn't hear, she kissed her hand and pressed it up against his forehead.

She put the receiver back up to her ear and opened her mouth to speak but was cut off, "Krychek? – Did you just say Krychek?" Mulder asked suspiciously.

"What? No. Hold on a minute" She put the phone in her mouth and pulled Krychek's large black T-shirt over her naked body as she walked out into the living room of her modern apartment.

"Mulder? Sorry – the um…the cat …"

"You don't have a cat."

She hit herself in the head, "I got one." She racked her brain for a name to call this phantom cat "– Pookie, her name's Pookie"

"Pookie?", she could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

"Yes! Pookie!", she made a note to herself to buy a cat and call it Pookie.

She sat on the edge of her couch, looking out over the sprawling, glittering city through her wall length window. "Yeah, so Mulder, what did you want my help with at – now-" she glanced up at the clock above the fireplace, "5:03 AM?"

Mulder laughed, "I'm sorry to call so late, um early, it's just that we've been inundated with files and we could really use some help taking care of them all." Lewis raised an eyebrow, "who's this 'we' you keep talking about? Your partner?"

"Scully – Agent Dana Scully – do you know her?" he asked.

"Hhhhhm… the enigmatic Dr. Scully these days is it?" She asked him dryly.

"Kate? – Is that a hint of jealousy I hear in that little voice of yours? Mulder joked.

Kate's stomach did a back flip. "Don't flatter yourself Mulder! Hey look, I was planning to go away for a few days, with a - friend, but I'd be happy to take on some of your workload. Anything for an old pal like you!"

"Agh – thank you Lewis! I'm stuck up here in Florida covering an execution and -"

"The Neech Manley execution?" asked Kate knowingly.

"Um, yeah – how'd you know?" Mulder sounded slightly puzzled,

"I've been following it in the news. Any truth to what he's said Mulder?"

"I don't think so – no." Mulder finalised the discussion.

Kate was slightly annoyed by the fact that he'd blown the discussion off.

Probably something that he can only talk about with Scully – she thought to herself broodingly.

He spoke one last time, "Thanks again. Hey look, when I get back I'll give you another call and perhaps we can go out for dinner or a coffee or something?" Lewis smiled to herself.

"Sure, that would be nice." She pushed a button ad the line went silent.

She sat there for a minute or two, entranced by the glow and hum of the city at night. Then she stood up, turned on her heel and headed back towards the bedroom, removing Krychek's shirt as she went – he was going to be pissed off to no end when she told him that she wouldn't be able to go away with him, he had planned to take her up to a beach house he owned in California for a week or two, but that would just have to wait.

He would be even more annoyed when he found out that she was ditching him to do work for Fox Mulder of all people.

She figured that they would just have to make the best of the time they had tonight – She threw the T-shirt aside, and with a feisty grin on her face she slid seductively into the bedroom and snapped the door closed behind her.

* * *

It was the sound of the early morning bird calls that woke her this time. She opened her eyes, squinting as the first rays of light from the sun shone through her bedroom window, blinding her. She sat up, and stumbled across the room to the dark ensuite.

She climbed into the shower and turned the taps on.

A rush of freezing cold water greeted her – "COLD! That's fu -" she shrieked, but before she could complete her sentence the water began to flow out hot again. It was all part of the morning ritual – fall out of bed, scream at the shower, finish getting ready, walk down the street for breakfast and get on the bus to work, she knew the drill. As she walked past her bed drying her hair, she realised that it was empty – no Alex Krychek. She checked the rest of the apartment – still no Krychek.

She wanted to kick herself – he only ever left before dawn when he was angry at her. He must have overheard her conversation with Mulder last night. She should call him when she got to work and explain.

The hustle and bustle of the streets flashed past Kate as she sat at a window seat on the bus, quietly sipping her hazelnut coffee as she thought. Mulder hadn't actually explained anything about the case like what she would be working on, case details, who she was working with - if she even got a partner, now that she thought about it she didn't even know where the X-Files office was. She decided it would be best for her to tackle it when she arrived at the Hoover Building.

She flipped the screen on her phone up for the third time that morning, scrolled through her contacts list and hit the call button when Alex's name appeared.

She waited for an answer. Still nothing, the call rang through to his answering machine – there was no use leaving yet another message asking him to call her.

She placed the phone back in her bag and continued to sip her coffee and watch the world pass by her window. The phone began to ring.

In her haste to answer the call, she dropped her coffee. It spilled all over her clean blue suit.

"Dammit!", people sitting in the seats around her threw her snide, angry looks.

"Shuddup" she slurred angrily at a grumpy looking old man - it was really hot! The boiling coffee scolded the skin beneath her clothes. She haphazardly tried to simultaneously dry her pants and answer the phone at the same time.

"Alex?!" she yelled idiotically into the phone.

"Sorry – no" said a perky female voice. "Call from Assistant Director Skinner's office – hold please."

It was Skinners secretary, Lewis felt stupid. She kept rubbing her pants furiously as Skinner's voice came onto the line.

"Agent Lewis?" he asked in his deep monotone.

"Yes Sir?"

"Mulder just sent me an e-mail explaining how you've agreed to take on the X-Files for a few days while he and Scully are in Florida, is this true?"

"Yes sir. I'd be more than happy to help – I was going on leave, but I can put that off for an opportunity to work of the infamous X-Files" she smiled as she said this, as though Skinner might also find it slightly amusing.

He wasn't happy. "Are you sure about this Lewis? You're a good agent and I don't want to see you being pulled down by Fox Mulder and his X-Files."

"Honestly AD Skinner – It's no trouble." She appreciated his concern, but would prefer if he allowed her to make her own discissions.

"Alright, but don't say you weren't warned" he said crossly, "The X-Files office is the only office on the basement level; you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. I've sent the case file down there already."

"Thank you sir"

"Lewis."

"Sir? -" she wanted to ask him about her new partner, but the phone was silent. Skinner had already hung up.


	3. CH2: 1 missippi 2 missippi 3 missippi

**Ahah! Yet another chapter me'lads! I just wanted to point out that 1. this story is slightly marysue 2. It's half not meant to be serious 3. If your thinking that it's kinda stupid and immature that I tryed to squeeze as many x-files regulars into it...your right.**

**Yep! So now that thats out of the way...ENJOY! And dont forget to R&R (haha rest and relax...nope)

* * *

**

She continued to ponder that one question as she entered the head quarters and went through security, waving momentarily at the friendly bag-scan-man, Ted.

Who was her new partner?

She pushed the button marked B for the basement on the lift's panel and the doors had begun to close, when a woman across the foyer called out for her to hold the lift. The woman continued to run towards her, Kate doubted that she would make it in time – plus she was in a hurry, so she didn't make a move to prevent the lift doors from closing.

The woman reached the lift just before they closed completely; she put her foot in the door and threw Lewis a spiteful glare.

The woman was tall, thicker set than usual but still lean and muscular. She had sawn off blonde hair that rested just above her shoulders and a side swept fringe.

In an attempt to avoid eye contact Lewis looked towards the ground.

The woman was wearing pointed black heels, which pumped up her already muscular calves. Kate's eyes followed the woman's outline up to her figure hugging A-line pencil-waist skirt and up again to her sleeveless turtleneck.

This woman was quite attractive, in a new age kind of way – she had delicate facial features, and her liberal amounts of black eyeliner complemented her deep brooding green eyes.

Kate stole a glance back up at the woman's face; the green eyes were fixed right on Kate. It appeared that she too was sussing Kate out. Then the thought occurred to her – was it possible that this woman could be Kate's new partner? She hoped not, they hadn't exactly got off to a good start.

A wave of relive spread over Lewis when the woman exited the lift on the second floor, as the doors closed she watched as the woman disappeared down a corridor and out of sight. She leant against the lift's cold metal wall for the remaining seconds of her journey down to the basement. The bell dinged dully and Kate made her way along the dark, silent hall.

She could hear distant chatter coming from an office three quarters of the way along the corridor. The door was ajar and a thin crack of light escaped from the room, along with the apparent squabbling of several male voices.

Lewis glanced up at the name on the door – 'Special Agent Fox Mulder'. This was the place – but who was inside? Did Mulder feel the need to assign her two or three partners? What a ridiculous gesture…

She paused for a second before entering to try and pick up what the men inside were arguing about. The first voice sounded out, "I dunno! He wouldn't tell me – that punk! Said that if we'd done my research we should know already!"

Apparently she had arrived mid way through the conversation. They must have been discussing the two new officers assigned to the X-Files for the week.

A second, higher voice - "I'm putting ten bucks on Jorden Pacy-Currand…"

Jorden – a man? She worked better with men.

And a third, better spoken voice then followed, "I'm not so sure. They had quite a fight last year. You never know – he could have called Fowley." FOWLEY? Alarm bells sounded in her head – she might be working with Diana Fowley?

The second man spoke again "I hope not – I mean she is really Foul-ly"

Juvenile, muffled laughter followed. Kate couldn't help but to have a silent giggle at the extremely lame joke. She quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside the room, without disturbing the three men inside.

As she stood, her back pressed up against the wall she observed the three men that were rummaging through the only desk in the room, their backs turned to her. The first was very small, he had what was left of his slightly greyed hair pulled back into a short pony tail, the second was tall and had long, blonde hair – not a dissimilar colour to the woman from the lift, and the third was taller still and had clean cropped brown hair and was wearing a grey suit – she supposed he was the well spoken voice she had heard just before.

Her mind was already a cacophony of unanswered questions, but another was added to the mix at this precise moment – What on earth were these three extremely odd looking men doing in this office – rummaging through Mulder's desk?

The suited man looked up at the opposite wall and caught Kate's reflection in a large glossy poster that Mulder had tacked up.

He swung around unceremoniously; accidentally delivering a hard slap to the back to the blonde mans head.

"Ow – Byers, what the hell man" said the blonde man moodily as he rubbed the back of his head, then he too noticed Kate. He knocked the remaining, short man on the arm and they both turned to face Kate.

As bemusing and odd this situation seemed to her, Kate couldn't help but to be quite amused. They all just stood there, staring at one another – the three men standing awkwardly, like the three stooges and Kate, backed up against the wall, as though she was trying to evade school-yard 'cooties'. She wasn't sure what to say, or even who these men were. She was about to ask when the short man stepped forward slightly and spoke first.

"She-is-hot!" he proclaimed loudly to his comrades.

"Shut up _Melvin!_" said the blonde man, pushing his friend out of the way, walking closer to Lewis and holding out his hand, "I'm – you can call me Langly", he said eagerly in rather smitten tone.

"No, you shut up _Richard_" said the original, short man as he stepped forward again, nudging 'Langly' out of his path. Kate was completely dumbstruck, she had no idea what was going on. Who were these men? What did they want?

"I'm Frohike, but you can call me whatever you like baby", he put a particular suave emphasis on the word baby.

"Um…" muttered Kate.

"Shut up both of you, you're acting like a pair of schoolgirls." He pushed past both of them and walked up to Lewis. She could sense that he was the most level-headed of the bunch, perhaps even their leader, so to speak.

"I'm Byers and we - are the Lone Gunmen", he announced regally – as though she had the slightest clue what he was talking about. She raised an eyebrow timidly.

"She hasn't read us!" said Langley. Frohike gave him a sharp look and he quietened down.

"We're friends of Mulder's" continued Byers with a smile.

"Yeah, we do all the dangerous, macho stuff" said Frohike puffing out his chest,

"We're his nerds…" concluded Langly. Kate laughed. She kind of liked these guys, as weird as they were – she liked them.

"I, uh, don't mean to be rude or anything but, uh – what exactly are you – 'Lone Gunmen', doing here?" she asked politely.

Byers smiled again, "sometimes we help Mulder and Scully out on their cases. Mulder called us last night and said that an old friend of his would be taking care of the files for a few days. Due to the 'peculiar' nature of the X-Files he thought it would be best if we came down to give you and your partner a bit of a briefing.

We're fairly certain your partner will be paired with Special Agent Jorden Pacy-Currand, if you were wondering." Good, she thought – she was with a man.

"We thought for a second we would be stuck helping Diana Fowley", Frohike continued on from him. "Do you know her?"

Lewis grimaced defiantly, "do-not-get-me-started-on-Diana-Fowley!"

"One for the brigade!" cheered Langly as he and Frohike high fived and patted Byers on the back. Kate allowed a laugh to escape her delicate lips as she watched the men celebrate their small triumph.

To be perfectly honest she was rather happy that they too disliked the woman – the thing with Diana Fowley was that you either liked her, or you hated her. Apparently everybody in this particular room fell into the latter category. Kate felt more at ease now, she leaned up against the desk as Frohike, Byers and Langly began to rant about all their individual hates about Fowley.

After a minute or two of the extremely unprofessional chattering a thought occurred to Langly.

"Sorry, we didn't quite catch your name there Agent…"

"Lewis" twittered Kate stupidly, "Kate Lewis." She smiled, but their faces had all gone blank.

Frohike spoke first – "the-Kate-Lewis?"

She nodded, newly unsure, "the only Kate Lewis I know."

"The F.B.I. Academy - Kate Lewis?"

Oh god! She thought – what had Mulder told them about her?! She nodded again apprehensively.

"We've heard so much about you!" said Byers

"He said you were hot – but not this hot!" exclaimed Frohike again.

"Uh - Thank you?"

"Kate. I mean – we've been hearing stories about you for yea-", Langly was cut off by the sound of footsteps approaching down the hall.

At first they were distant and echoed off the walls, but then they drew closer, and closer still – until Kate could hear the clear, harsh footfall's of a pair of heels.

This certainly was no man about to walk through the door. They all held their breath, hoping that the ill-reputed Diana Fowley didn't walk in.

A dark figure turned the corner and stood in the doorway.

To Kate's horror, framed by the dark wood stood – the woman from the lift. Her curvy figure, outlined by the light shining in from the hall seemed to hang there in the air – her toned shoulders now covered by a black, tailored jacket, her face set in stone, looking as obnoxious as ever. The room was silent as the two women stared at each other in disbelief, the Lone Gunmen sussing out the obvious tension – or so it seemed.

Suddenly, to Kate's surprise Langly spoke up, "AH-HA! Ten bucks to Langly! I was right! It's Pacy-Currand!" he rushed forwards to hug the woman, who obliged and spread her arms warmly.

What was going on? Kate had thought that Pacy-Currand was a male – Jorden?! Thought… presumed more like. That was something she would have to work on – apart from the inability to be organised and the clumsiness, Lewis had a habit of being far too presumptuous. It was obvious now – Jorden - Jorden could be a female name too. Clumsy, unorganised, presumptuous – sometimes she wondered how she had even passed through the academy.

Without getting too caught up in realising her own vices, Kate watched the scene unfolding in front of her. Langly had moved aside and Special Agent Jorden Pacy-Currand was currently hugging Byers, she gave him a peck on the cheek and stepped up to face Frohike, who was a considerable number of feet shorter than she was.

"The silver-tongue himself!" she said charismatically.

He opened his arms and walked towards her, she smiled appealingly as she followed in suite.

When he was mere inches away from hugging her, she over-zealously swung her whole arm around behind him and comically slapped him on the behind.

Kate smiled, because for the first time that morning it did appear that Melvin Frohike was lost for words. Perhaps this woman, Jorden, wasn't who Lewis had first assumed her to be.

Pacy-Currand winked at Frohike and her laugh rang out across the room, "just joking Melvin!" she said affectionately as she finally pulled him into a tight hug.

"Anyhow – it's Byers who has the cute butt…"

Everyone sniggered slightly, even Kate - everyone except Byers that is. Langly, Frohike, Kate and Pacy-Currand all turned to face him with serious looks plastered to their faces; Byers turned a pleasant shade of pink.

He cleared his throat loudly. "Right, well now – erm – that's out of the way…" he said awkwardly in a high pitched voice, laughing as though he too found it funny.

"Kate, this is your partner – meet Special Agent Jorden Pacy-Currand, I'm sure she wont mind you calling her Jorden though", Kate smiled but the woman's face had returned to its original set; cold and empty. Apparently Byers hadn't noticed the sudden chill in the room, so he continued, "Jorden this is Agent Ka -",

"We've met" said Pacy-Currand glancing at Lewis's name on her security pass, "and Currand or Pacy-Currand will do just fine."

Kate smiled again meekly, for a millisecond or so she had begun to think that perhaps this Currand woman had a little more depth to her character than first met the eye – apparently not.

She decided that perhaps Currand was like Fowley – you either liked her, as the Gunmen appeared to - or you didn't, as Lewis had begun to. She really didn't even care to know people like that - yes, that was probably the case, shame really… for a second there –

"So boys what's the case file say? - Why exactly are you here actually?" Currand asked the two questions in quick succession. Then before anyone had answered she turned to Lewis and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh – I see, we have a rookie on our hands?"

"No! I've been working for the Bureau as long as Mulder" said Kate defensively, adding - "we studied at the academy together you see" in an attempt to show a personal side to her new partner.

Currand nodded her head, her eyes opening wide as she made a humming noise in the back of her throat, showing her agreement with what Lewis had said. She was treating Kate like a child!? Kate was extremely annoyed, but tried not to let her emotions show on her face. What did this woman have against her? She had merely forgotten to hold the door of the elevator open. Why did Jorden have some kind of pre-disposed notion that she was so much better than Kate? It was driving her insane.

"Isn't that interesting? Well Fox and I did quite a lot of work together back when he was a profiler for the VCU, in the earlier days of the X-Files I helped him out a little bit. That's why he's asked me to come back now, _you see_."

Fox? Mulder allowed this woman to call him Fox? He told Kate that he had never allowed anyone to call him that – not even his parents!

She gave, what she thought was a subtle glare in Pacy-Currand's direction; Pacy-Currand mirrored her look.


	4. CH3: Musings of a Stone Cold Bitch

From the moment Jorden had turned that corner and found herself face-to-face with the callous 'lift-woman' she had put her defences up. She just didn't understand what was so hard about holding a door open for someone? This Kate Lewis character looked like a real piece of work, to be honest she intimidated Currand, and that was something that didn't happen a lot.

Jorden had used her many years of military training to asses this woman before the lift door had even closed – she was average height, but had a slender build; probably got to the gym once or twice a week, she had nut brown hair – no regrowth, her natural colour - that sat in neat waves on her collar bone, it was cut so that it rested just around the edges of her heart shaped face; a safe bet, she was alert and style conscious – yet didn't want to stand out from the crowd too much, her tanned skin and steely grey eyes were made up with a light and natural, barely there blend of makeup; pretty but intentionally not too feminine, her dark blue-grey suit was well cut and tailored, yet the shade did not compliment her natural colours; the girl tended to overlook certain things in favour of focusing 100 on others, her jacket was also figure-huggingly tight; Lewis didn't carry her gun at all times, the way she stood – her hands planted firmly on her feminine hips; she was assertive and headstrong, yet she was avoiding making eye contact – perhaps she too felt uncomfortable?

Jorden Pacy-Currand seized the opportunity to look at the woman's ID card – Kate M. Lewis, born 9 August 1968. The photo was at least 18 months old, in the photo her hair was shorter and she was wearing glasses, she must be wearing contacts now – insecurity? Self conscious? Her signature was steady and the ends of the letters curled off in a light-heartedly fashion; Kate Lewis was a naturally a right-brained person, yet she could easily focus on tasks and was quite intelligent.

Now that Jorden was in the room, standing in front of the woman she could just sense Lewis, how determined she was, how quick and able she was - the way her eyes traced the outline of every person and object in the room – the way they absorbed every little detail, as though she were about to be questioned on her surroundings; Pacy-Currand admired that – perhaps there was still hope yet, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that this woman was still a rookie, she was obviously more laid back that Jorden, but Jorden's training pushed her to push her partners, bring out the best in all of them – there was no reason to make an exception this time.

"So boys – what's the case?" asked Jorden in a mock eager voice.

Good old Byers stepped forward, up to task as usual, "Well – projector", he looked at Langly. Langly, who was now leaning up against the far wall, looked confused,

"PLUG IT IN _RICHARD_!" said Frohike decisively, shaking his head in Lewis's direction. Jorden laughed internally – they were both vying for the attentions of the new female agent, she herself had experienced the exact same phenomena when she had first met the Gunmen. She also supposed that Lewis would do the exact same thing she had done: be completely repulsed by the two of them and eventually kick their asses at something to put them back in their places.

Lewis gave Frohike an awkward smile as the projector whirred into life. They all hushed down and turned their attentions to Byers as he begun his case synopsis. "Herston, Illinois", he handed Lewis an X-File case folder, "a series of particularly gruesome murders, occurring between two and four days apart – eights deaths so far". He flicked a small, old switch and the first of a series of photos of a blood stained stairwell flashed onto the projector screen, oblivious to the fact that Langly had turned a displeasing shade of green Lewis spoke out over the hum of the machine, "eight deaths? And we've only just been called?" Langly shuffled a little where he was standing,

"Due to the fact that these murders are occurring in such a short space of time, and due to the particularly brutal nature of the crimes, the case was originally assigned to Violent Crimes – they couldn't made hide nor hair of it. Apart from the condition that the bodies are found in, there's no solid and consistent MO, no link between the victims at all. So you guys get to have a stab." He chuckled.

Jorden raised an eyebrow, "that's not funny. Look I'm not going to mess around here – I'm sorry but you guys just aren't qualified to get involved with this type of case. Lewis and I will be able to deal with it better alone – we've both done work on cases of this nature before and there is no real need to even have you guys here."

All three of the men looked slightly disappointed.

"I'm sorry. Mulder and Scully might have let you get involved with this but we won't."

Lewis couldn't help but to agree with what Pacy-Currand was saying, this was no place for three computer nerds – it was a very serious, ongoing crime. She jumped off the desk she was sitting on and began to usher the Lone Gunmen out of the room. As she walked past, she handed Currand the case folder, which she proceeded to flick through. Kate continued to push the small group towards the door, "Are you sure you don't need our help?" asked Frohike.

"We're good", said Jorden without raising her head from the folder she was reading.

Byers this time – "We'll I booked you two tickets on a flight to Illinois that leaves at 11:30."

Kate sighed, "Thank-you Mr. Byers!" She finally got them all out of the office and shut the door. Now, to work! There was a timid knock on the door. Kate opened it, a harsh look on her otherwise attractive face.

"You forgot your tickets" said Byers sheepishly holding out two slips of paper. Without speaking Lewis ripped them out of his hand. Frohike winked from behind the others, "perhaps you could give me your phone nu- ", the door closed in his face.

Kate turned back around to face Currand, who was still reading through the case details, she happened to look down at her wrist watch, "Dammit – the flight leaves in just over an hour! We'll be lucky if we make it." Currand jumped to her feet and pulled some papers and files together, shoving them in a briefcase.

"We can discuss the case on the plane there" said Lewis as she put all the slides into a small box. Jorden couldn't help but to raise her eyebrow once again – well obviously. The two female agents finished gathering their documents and rushed out of the office, turning the light off and locking the door as they went on their hurried way.


	5. CH4: WHAT THE!

**HAHAHAHAHAHA! Trust me that's what you'll be thinking when you finnish reading this too (and not in a 'oh jolly good show chap' kind of way, more like 'oh dear god please smote me down where I stand'...cha?) Yup this has to be one of the randomest things I have ever created! And I've been getting a bit of anti-Jorden feedback...GIVE THE GIRL A CHANCE!!...ok so she has issues...**

**Enjoy anyway lads :p**

"Attention. All passengers on flight 473 to Brisbane, Australia, please make your way to the boarding area."

Jorden jerked awake and looked around wildly, their flight to Illinois had been delayed and she had fallen asleep waiting. When she looked up and finally glanced towards her new partner, and noticed that Kate was watching her quite intently.

"That's really quite undignified you know" said Lewis before she had a chance to speak. Jorden's eyebrow rose is a questioning manner. Lewis pointed to her shirt; Jorden slipped her hand down and carefully felt around her collar bone, eventually feeling a wet spot. She looked down, and summarised that she must have been drooling in her sleep.

"Ahem", Jorden cleared her throat loudly and turned away, avoiding Kate's gaze. She had let her guard down and look what happened.

"It's ok you know" smiled Kate kindly.

"What is?"

Kate followed Jorden's lead and cleared her throat, "To be human, to let your guard down". Jorden frowned, how did she know that what she had been thinking? She grimaced, "No. It's not ok" Kate didn't say anything.

"Because when you let your guard down," continued Currand, "people get hurt. People die."

"Not everything comes down to that!" said Kate through gritted teeth, not wanting to cause a scene in the busy airport. Jorden's face had not changed a bit since she had woken up, it was as though she had woken up but her body hadn't quite yet. She was so calm and collected – it almost scared Kate.

Jorden laughed coolly, but Kate didn't miss her nostrils flaring slightly,

"It amazes me how little you know about being an FBI agent, _Lewis_"

This woman was really getting to Kate. She could feel her face turning beetroot red and imagined steam pouring out of her ears, like in all those lame cartoons,

"And what exactly makes you think that you know any better than me, _Currand_?"

"Ok then. For one…you've turned purple…" smirked Jorden as she stood up and pulled her jacket on. "Oh, and just in case you're a little touchy about those flaky nails and their two dollar corner store polish as well, you should borrow these" she threw a pair of black leather gloves into Lewis's lap and walked away. Kate fumed as she shoved the Italian leather gloves into a nearby bin and watched the queen bitch walk away. It was that that point that Kate noticed the only slightly good thing about Agent Jorden Pacy-Currand – she had a really nice butt. Kate decided that now because of this she hated her that little bit more, she slumped into chair and stewed, making a personal note to herself how much she would regret throwing those gloves away later.

* * *

Three hours passed and Kate downed four cups of coffee and a can of diet coke. She sat in her chair for half that time until her legs started to go numb, plus whoever had picked the music playing in the departures lounge was a big Jackson 5 fan… man she hated anything and everything Michael Jackson. Eventually as the four hour mark came and went she found herself in the airport lounge pitted against a drunken old man in a game of pool. She was winning, sinking four balls in oppose to his one…and a half.

* * *

Jorden was furious. She stormed into the bar, knocking a short man in green out of the way. She didn't know why, but Kate Lewis really gave her the shits. She had always been such a collected person, but in the day that she had known Lewis, every time that they spoke she wanted to yell and scream and wear pink lipstick. She shuddered – oh how she hated all things Lewis and all things pink. There was only one other person alive who did this to Jorden, and he was a ghost from the ancient past. She sat down heavily on the only free bar stool and demanded a straight whiskey from the bartender. Jorden looked into her glass, just staring and collecting her thoughts…the clock ticked on and on and eventually her alcoholic meditation was interrupted by a hard knock to her elbow.

"Hey watch it!" she said harshly, without looking up to see who she was abusing.

"Gee I'm really sorry" said a very high squeaky voice.

* * *

"Hey, that's cheating! You can't wait till you think I'm not looking and put the ball in a hole!" she yelled angrily, what was it national 'Beat up on Kate Day' today or something?

"Bah! Ididndonuffinlikedatpredyl-ddy" he jabbered

Kate didn't have the patience to fight him on this one…right now he was her best friend, "Fine. But it only counts for half a point!" she glared and he smiled happily will all the teeth he could muster.

"Yeh know yeh should just go and talk to him" said a high pitched voice with an Irish accent behind her.

Kate spun around to investigate and found herself looking down at a short red-headed man with a beard, who was wearing a green jacket and pants. Yee-gods, she thought desperately to herself.

"What? Talk to who? The drunk guy?" she asked,

"Your husband o-course" chattered the man.

"Look, I have no idea what you are talking about leprechaun man but I'm not married!"

"Sure, sure lass. You say whatever yeh want!

Lewis conjured her best Pacy-Currand face to try and scare the small man off. Without prevail.

"It's so obvious that you to are fightin' but yeh love him so just kiss and make up!" he winked.

"What-in-god's-name…" began Kate, turning around to see if anybody else was seeing this or if the stress of working with Currand had finally got to her. But when she turned around he was gone.

* * *

Jorden looked up, too her shock, terror and slight amusement, a man had just sat down beside her that looked an awful lot like Michael Jackson.

"Aahhh…" stammered Jorden, lost for words for the first time in many years.

"Hey you look troubled" said 'Michael' kindly, "you wanna talk about it?"

"Umm…it's just…no I'm all good thanks, it's just been a long day"

The man smiled again through his tightly curled mask of hair, "I know exactly what you mean, I've been in your shoes before" he said.

Jorden half smiled, "you know that actually kind of helps…"

"I'm not finished yet!" said the man testily, " I mean don't you just hate it when you want to invite one of your child-friends over for a sleepover and then everybody gets all up at you for it?"

Jorden was afraid. Very afraid. "Agggghhh…nnn-"

"Still not finished! And then everybody chases you around and won't let you hold babies out of windows! I bet you know just how I feel." He finally finished and looked at Pacy-Currand hopefully.

"Sure I do" she smiled, her mind desperately searching for an escape route.

"Hey, they just called my flight! I better get going" she laughed awkwardly

"But they didn't announce any flig –"

Jorden smiled desperately, "sixth sense?"

He didn't say anything, just kept looking at her; oh he just kept on looking.

"I hope all you issues sort out…uh…brother" she said and clapped him on the back in a friendly way.

"Hey. No touching!"

* * *

Eventually both agents got around to boarding the flight. As they stowed their bags and took their adjoining seats at the window somehow, they felt closer and although they never expected it to happen they were actually glad to see each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking – welcome aboard!"

**See what I mean? REVEIW GODDAM YOU!! Haha shudup it's 3:09 pm and like -3 degrees in my thermal underwear -.- **

**NEW CHAPTER COMING SOON!**


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